Black Rock Forest, NY

ABOUT THE PARK:
Black Rock Forest - Black Rock Forest Consortium

TRAIL MAP:
NY/NJ Trail Conference West Hudson Trails Map #113
Online Map (not recommended - NY/NJ Trail Conference map is much better)
No maps at the park - ran into two different hikers who were lost because they had no map!

PARKING DIRECTIONS:
New York Thruway (I-87) to exit 16; Route 17 West; Route 32 North; right on Smith Clove Road; right on Mine Hill Road to parking on right


HIKE DIRECTIONS:
This hike is 10.5 miles long and is longer version of the NY/NJ Trail Conference 6.5 mile Sutherland Pond/Scenic Trail/Eagle Cliff Loop which also incorporates Rattlesnake Hill, Hill of Pines and Black Rock.

Parking lot only has space for 3 cars so I suggest getting there early:

Trailhead is across the street from the parking area:


(Several trails are blazed yellow but are distinguished by the shape.)
Head uphill on the yellow diamond-blazed Mine Hill trail.

View from the yellow diamond-blazed trail:


At the intersection, turn right on the yellow circle-blazed Sackett trail.
At .6 miles turn left on the yellow square-blazed Stillman trail.
At 1 mile turn continue on the yellow square/blue blazed trail.
At 1.2 miles turn right on the blue/teal blazed trail.
At 1.3 miles turn left on the white-blazed trail.

View of Sutherland Pond from Split Rock on the white-blazed trail:


At 1.8 miles turn right on an unmarked woods road with Sutherland Pond on your left.
At 2.2 miles turn left on the blue/teal-blazed trail briefly before turning left on the yellow square-blazed Arthur trail and crossing a boardwalk.


At 2.5 miles keep left on the white-blazed Scenic trail.
At 3 miles turn right on the blue-blazed trail a short distance to the end marked on a large rock. Go around to the right of this rock for panoramic views at Eagle Rock:


New York City skyline in the distance from Eagle Rock:


Leaving Eagle Rock turn right on the red-blazed trail briefly then left on the yellow square-blazed trail.
At 3.5 miles turn right on the white-blazed Scenic trail.
At 3.7 miles turn left on the blue-blazed trail for a short distance to Spy Rock. The views aren't great but worth the short trip for historic value as this was a lookout post during the Revolutionary War.

View from Spy Rock:


Retrace your steps and continue left on the white-blazed trail, which you will be on for the next 3 miles.

View from Rattlesnake Hill:


View from Hill of Pines:


At 7 miles turn left on the yellow square/teal blazed Stillman Trail.

Arrive at Black Rock with views of the Hudson at around 8 miles:


At 8.5 miles turn right on the yellow circle-blazed Sackett Trail.
At 10 miles turn right on the yellow diamond-blazed Mine Hill Trail back to the parking area.

LITTER REPORT:
The only place we found litter was at Eagle Rock. This litter was particularly awful. There were two Capri Sun containers and a soda can. This leads me to believe two children were brought up to Eagle Rock to see the beautiful views, given their snacks and were taught that part of this wonderful outdoor experience is to leave your garbage behind. So sad.

Douthat State Park, VA - Middle Mountain/Douthat Lake

DISTANCE: 8.5 miles

TRAILHEAD:
From the cabins, drive down to the main road, turn right, then left into the Lakeside Campground parking lot. (I opted to drive this short distance since I needed my car to swing by the park office afterwards but it can easily be walked from the cabins.)


DIRECTIONS:
It had rained overnight and in the morning the skies alternated between looking quite dark and ominous, then breaking up with areas of blue sky and sunshine, then back to dark clouds. Went ahead with the hike and got spritzed on briefly a few times, but nothing that required donning rain gear. The views were obstructed by fog but that in itself was quite pretty. It was horribly humid but we made it up the mountain anyway.

From the parking lot, walk on the road towards the campground.


At the campground, keep to the right, turning right on the orange-blazed Salt Stump trail.


You will be coming up on several intersections and although there are plenty of signs, I found it to be a little too much information making it somewhat confusing, so I'll try to clarify for this hike.


At .9 miles keep left on the orange-blazed Salt Stump trail at the intersection.
At 1 mile keep left on the orange-blazed Salt Stump trail at the next intersection.
At 1.1 miles keep right on the orange-blazed Salt Stump trail at the intersection.
At 1.3 miles, keep left on the orange-blazed Salt Stump trail at the intersection with the blue/yellow blazed Brown Hollow trail which goes to the right.
At 1.9 miles keep right on the orange-blazed Salt Stump trail where the yellow-blazed Pine Tree trail goes to the left.

At higher elevations on the Salt Stump trail there will be views but these were not clear on this particular day due to the fog.



At 3.2 miles you will finally reach the top of Middle Mountain where you turn left on the light blue-blazed Middle Mountain trail. This runs along the ridge, I believe actually inside George Washington National Forest, with the Douthat State Park boundary to the left.

The elevation along this section of the Middle Mountain trail reaches 3,125 feet.

At 4.5 miles turn left on the blue-blazed Blue Suck Falls trail. I did not see a sign here so you need to watch for the turn. It is a sharp turn to the left that starts to go downhill.

Keep left on the blue-blazed Blue Suck Falls trail passing the yellow-blazed Tuscarora trail on the right.

At 6.4 miles turn left on the yellow-blazed Pine Tree trail.

At 7 miles, turn right on the orange-blazed Middle Hollow trail.


At 7.5 miles keep straight on the orange-blazed Middle Hollow trail where the white-blazed Laurel View trail crosses, heading towards Douthat Lake.


At 8 miles reach Douthat Lake and turn left on the blue-blazed Heron Run trail.



Continue through the campground and along the road reaching the parking lot at 8.5 miles.

Douthat State Park, VA - Beards Mountain/George Washington National Forest

DISTANCE: 13 miles (8 miles without George Washington National Forest)

TRAILHEAD: If staying in a cabin, simply walk uphill on the road towards the Guest Lodge where you will find the Guest Lodge trailhead at the top of the road.

DIRECTIONS:
A couple of things I wanted to do on this trip - hit the trail at the crack of dawn since I could practically walk out the cabin door onto a trail, and hike a bit into George Washington National Forest.

Head up the blue-blazed Guest Lodge trail. (My pedometer registered .2 miles here, the distance from the cabin to the trailhead, which is included in all of the distances.)
At 1 mile turn left on the yellow-blazed Mountain Top trail.

At 1.4 miles arrive at a scenic overlook of Douthat Lake. In this picture the sun was rising over Beards Mountain behind me but had not climbed high enough to light up Douthat Lake. The mountain ahead is where Hike 1 took place.


At 2 miles, turn left at an unmarked connector trail to reach George Washington National Forest. The log you see to the left is a step up for the unmarked trail. The yellow-blazed Mountain Top trail continues to the right. The unmarked trail is overgrown and hard to see at times but veer to the right going uphill and you will run into the light blue-blazed trail in George Washington National Forest at the top of the incline.


A note about George Washington National Forest: I can't speak for the entire forest since this is the only part I saw but the trails were terribly overgrown. They seem to be staked out for restoration and according to a mountain biker I ran into the following day, the trails are in very bad shape everywhere, he had checked into it and was told restoration was to take place with stimulus money received. Aside from that, according to the topo maps, I had thought the trail would be along the ridge of Beards Mountain. It was actually somewhat lower so there were no views at all until an overlook was reached over 2 miles out.

At this point I turned back around and backtracked to Douthat State Park where the trail are much better maintained and much more scenic. So in my opinion, you won't miss much by skipping that part George Washington National Forest. It wasn't awful, just not what I had expected. Subtract 5 miles from distances below if omitting GWNF.

At 6.4 miles reach the Douthat State Park boundry and follow the unmarked trail downhill, meeting back up with and turning left on the yellow-blazed Mountain Top trail.


A view to the east from the yellow-blazed Mountain Top trail:


At 8.2 miles turn right on the blue-blazed Buck Hollow trail.
At 9.3 miles turn left on the blue-blazed spur trail to an overlook of Douthat Lake.


If you have a dog along, this is what your dog might look like 2 days and 21 miles later...

She was OK, had a little power nap and we were off and running again. We both found this to be a very nice (and surprisingly less buggy) spot for a break.

Retrace your steps back to left on the blue-blazed Buck Hollow trail.
At 10.6 miles turn right on the white-blazed Wilson Creek trail.
At 11.5 miles turn right on the orange-blazed Ross Camp trail. You can turn left here, go a short distance, then turn right on the road and walk a much shorter distance along the road back to the cabins. We went right and took the longer, more scenic route.
At 12.2 miles turn left on the blue-blazed Guest Lodge trail.
At 13 miles, arrive back at cabin.

Douthat State Park, VA - Blue Suck Falls/Tuscarora Overlook/Stony Run

DISTANCE: 10.5 miles

TRAILHEAD: From the park office driving into the park, turn left at the Camp Carson Picnic Area just before Douthat Lake. Drive all the way to the end and park at the Blue Suck Falls trailhead.


DIRECTIONS:
Follow the blue-blazed Blue Suck Falls trail for 3 miles. Along the trail you will first pass small waterfalls and Blue Suck Falls.



The trail goes up and you will begin to see mountains in the distance to the east.


Around this point, I heard a loud purring/chortling noise coming from my left off the trail. It seemed to follow us for a bit then stopped. I asked the park ranger about it later and as I thought, it was a bobcat. But, more specifically, when I got home I googled and found the identical sound which turns out to be a bobcat in heat looking for a mate. Guess she realized that was not us! Never saw her but I can say I heard a bobcat in heat.

At Lookout Rock, climb part of the way up the rock for a view to the west.



At 3 miles, turn left on the yellow-blazed Tuscarora trail.
At 3.5 miles, turn left on the Tuscarora trail spur and hike a short distance to an incredible view. I believe the elevation here is around 2,800 feet. The first mountain is Beards Mountain where Hike 2 takes place. (Yes, ALL the way to the top!) Douthat Lake is in the foreground.


Retrace your steps back to left on the yellow-blazed Tuscarora trail.
At 4.5 miles, turn left on the orange-blazed Stony Run Trail.

This trail goes through the thickest rhododendron grove I have ever seen. It almost blocks out all sunlight.


At 7.5 miles, turn left on the yellow-blazed Locust Gap trail.
At 9 miles, turn right on the blue-blazed Blue Suck Falls trail and reach the parking lot at 10.5 miles.

Douthat State Park, VA - Long Weekend Hiking Trip

ABOUT THE PARK: Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

TRAIL MAP: Online Map / Online Trail Descriptions / maps available in park office

DIRECTIONS: About a 7 hour drive from Central New Jersey. I-78 west to I-81 south to I-64 west to north on Route 629 for 6 miles to park office on right

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
Hikes are broken down individually. Click on the links for descriptions and pictures of each hike.
Hike 1 - 10.5 miles - Blue Suck Falls/Tuscarora Overlook/Stony Run
Hike 2 - 13 miles - Beards Mountain/George Washington National Forest
Hike 3 - 8.5 miles - Middle Mountain/Douthat Lake

The trail map indicates the level of difficulty of each trail. Based on how trails are rated here in New Jersey and New York, I would say none of the trails is above moderate although several are listed as difficult. There are no rock scrambles and for the most part trails are smooth, some rocky areas, consist mostly of switchbacks and run along narrow ledges with amazingly beautiful steep dropoffs. I tend to get queasy if up high looking straight down but none of the trails affected me like that, maybe because the rest of the mountain going up on the other side offered a wall with a sense of stability. Make no mistake, you will be getting quite the workout but amazing views await you at the top.

ACCOMMODATIONS:
We stayed in a 2 bedroom cabin, which was very nice and much more than I had expected. Dogs are allowed for a $10 per night additional fee, but most importantly, they are allowed, which is rare! This cabin came to about $100 per night in off-peak season. My dog, Shawnee, will give a tour:

We stayed in cabin 28. Cabins are spaced a decent distance apart and are climate controlled with heat and central air conditioning.


You enter through a screened in porch which is a very pleasant place to sit and read a book.


You first come into the combo living/dining room with fireplace:



Beyond that is the kitchen with refrigerator/freezer, microwave, stove, toaster, coffee maker.


Out the side door is a patio with picnic table and barbeque grill.


On the other side of the cabin are the bedrooms and bathroom.




Shawnee and I both highly recommend staying here. There are different cabins with different features and camping facilities. Click here for more information on accommodations at Douthat State Park. The trails and views are magnificent and it is definitely worth spending at least a weekend hiking them.

LITTER REPORT:
I normally do a litter report at the end of each hike in hopes someone who might consider littering will think twice after seeing how awful it looks. But on this trip, I only found one item of "litter" so I will report it here. And I have to say, this was not the kind of litter you find every day, nor would I say it was intentional. Kudos to Douthat State Park for being litter-free!